Hinged claw watch bracelet



Feb. 5, 1957 R. LANCASTER ET AL HINGED CLAW WATCH BRACFzILnly Filed Sept'. 2, 1954 United States Patent O ice rnNGED CLAW WATCH BRACELET Ralph Lancaster and Norman Slater, Waterbury, Conn., assignors to Benrus Watch Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 2, 1954, Serial No. 453,757

3 Claims. (Cl. 224-4) elements which make up the hinge or pivot are likewise f located in the outer wall or surface of `the bracelet `yand thus exteriorly of the bracelet. The disadvantageous result is -that the hinge parts, being visible, detract from the ydecorative effect desired for the bracelet exterior, particularly for the higher quality bracelet designs.

The prime object of our present invention centers about the provision of a watch bracelet of the hinged claw type in which the talons or claws pivot about axes lying in the outer surface or wall of `the bracelet, the hinge structure for which, however, is so arranged as to be made invisible, land is concealed and located within or interiorly of the watch bracelet parts. By means of this structure the exterior appearance of the bracelet is enhanced, and improved decorative designs may be imparted to the outside -bracelet parts.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing object, and such other objects as will hereinafter appear, the invention -rel-a'tes to -a watch bracelet of the hinged claw type as sought to be dened in the appended claims taken together with lthe following Ispecification and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a watch bracelet embodying the present invention and depicting the -character of the exterior designs that may be 'imparted to the watch bracelet with the employment of the structure of 4the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a view thereof taken on an enlarged scale with parts broken Iaway and other parts shown in section, and also depicting the characteristics thereof;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view Isimilar to Fig. 2, depicting the operative position of the parts with one of the claws in open condition;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view thereof with parts broken away `and other parts shown in section; and

Fig. 5 is an exploded view in perspective lshowing the essential elements of the hinge structure of the bracelet.

Referring now more in detail `to the drawings, the hinged claw or talon bracelet lof the present invention comprises a watch casing W and lthe opposite talons or claws C, C each hingedly attached to the watch casing W for pivotal movement about a pivot axis a lying in the outer Wall or surface of the bracelet as is best depicted in Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings. As illustrated in Fig. l, the structure or mechanism for hinging the talons or claws is invisible and is not embodied in any of the outside parts of either the watch casing or the claws, with the result that an exterior design such as is depicted in Fig.. l of the drawings is obtained where the contiguous parts of the watch casing `and the talons or claws may be made to appear flu-sh or continuous when the watch bracelet is in wrist encircling 2,780,400 Patented Feb. 5, 1957 2 condition, thereby enabling highly desired decorative effects to be obtained.

The watch casing W is provided at its opposite ends with sections constructed for receiving and for having attached thereto the opposite claw sections C, C. To this end the watch casing W is provided with opposite end sections 10, 10, `each of which may comprise an inverted U-'shaped part 12 and a separate bottom 14 attachable thereto (see Fig. 5), these parts defining a housing 16 for enclosing some `of the parts of the hinge 'structure in the manner hereinafter described.

- The talons C, C -comprise 4arms 18, 18 contoured to encircle the wrist of 'the user and designed to match the design of the end sections 10, 10 so as to be continuous therewith in the manner referred to above, each of said claws being formed at its watch-attaching end Iso as to provide ya housing 20 for -containing parts of the hinging structure of the device. The top contiguous or meeting edge walls of `the claws and the watch end sections, namely, the top edge walls 22 of the claws and the top edge walls .24 of the watch end sections, abut each other to formor define the hinge pivot axis a; and the remaining edge walls of the claws and watch end 'sections also meet lin abutting relation when the claws are in wrist encircling condition, producing continuous walls on all sides of the bracelet defining a completely enclosed housing for the parts of the hinge `structure now to be described.

For `attaching and mounting each claw section C to its end section 10 to efectuate the results referred to there is provided in one of the sections `an arcuate cam track 26 having its center of curvature in the pivot axis a and a cam follower 28 in 'the other of said Isections which is constrained for movement in said cam track, there being also provided a spring 30 connecting the said sect-ions and active for biasing the claw section to contracted condition on the end section. In the construction illustrated in the drawings the cam track 26 lis provided in the claw sect-ion C and the cam follower 28 is provided in the watch end section 10; the detailed structure of the-se parts 'taking the form of an inverted U-shaped part 32 having the cam tracks 26 formed as arcuate slots in its parallel side wall-s, the cam follower 28 being made in the form of a shaft or pintle, the pin-trunnions 34, 34 of which are adapted to be anchored in the pintle orices 36, 36 formed in the side walls of the end sections 10. The part 32 is inserted in the housing part 20 of the claw C `and is attached `to the interior wall-s thereof in any desired manner, and the said part 32 is formed with a down-turned part 38 for anchoring one end of the Ispring 30, the other end of the spring 30 Ibeing coiled about and anchored to the follower or shaft 28. Preferably the spring 30 is formed with two spring arms, the coiled ends 40 of which encircle spaced parts of the follower or shaft 28. The protruded parts or ends of the inserted part 32 are contoured as -best shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings to permit the smooth hinging motion -of the claws C, C between contracted or closed, and expanded or open, positions. The outer termini of the cam 'slots 26, 26 define stop means for limiting `the movement of the claws in their outward or open positions.

The manner of assembling the parts of the watch bracelet of the present invention, the use and operation thereof, and the advantages secured thereby will in the main be apparent from the above detailed description thereof. The component parts of the structure Ishown disassembled in Fig. 5 of the drawings may be readily assembled in the manner described. ln the closed position of the bracelet, as illustrated in Fig. 2, none of the elements of the hinge structure is visible, all of the elements being concealed and located within the bracelet parts. The bracelet claws are movable between the closed and open claw positions illustrated in `the drawings; and in such movement each claw section pivots about an axis a lying in the outer surface or outer wall yof the bracelet. All the outside walls of the bracelet in closed condition are ush or continuous, yielding a design which is subject to improved decorative treatment.

It will be apparent that changes may be made in the structure illustrated or described without departing from the spirit of the invention dened in the following claims.

We claim:

1. A hinged claw watch bracelet comprising a Watch casing, yopposite end sections extending from vthe watch casing, claw `sections attached to the end sections, each claw section having a movement with reference to its end section about a pivot axis located at the outer surface ofthe end section, the end `sections being formed as housings and the contiguous parts of the claw sections lbeing formed as housings for mating with the end section housings, and means for attaching and 'mounting each claw section to its end section for said movement comprising an arcuate cam track means in one of said Isections having its center of curvature in lsaid pivot axis, a cam follower in the other of said sections constrained for movement in said cam track, and a spring connecting vthe claw section to its end section active for biasing the claw section to contracted condition on the end section, ysaid cam track means, cam follower `and spring being located within `and housed by the mating housings of said end Isection and `said claw section.

2. The hinged claw watch bracelet of claim 1 in which each end section housing is formed with top, side and bottom walls and its mating claw section housing is formed with corresponding top, side and bottom walls, the walls of `the end section housing being arranged to abut the corresponding walls of 'the claw section housing when the claws are in contracted condition.

3. The hinged claw watch bracelet of claim 2 in which each claw section includes interior spaced parallel walls protrudingfrom the side Walls of the claw section and movable confinedly within the `side walls of the mating end section, the said cam track means comprising cam tracks formed .in said protruding walls, the said cam follower comprising a fixed pintle located in `the end section.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 354,716 Mason Dec. 2l, 1886 947,312 Spatschil Jan. 25, 1910 1,056,074 Wallenthin Mar. 18, 1913 1,985,249 Feid Dec. 25, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS 641,885 France Aug. 13, 1928 289,150 Switzerland Feb. 28, 1953 

